"I am super kicked about performing at Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards again. We have so many exciting things planned this year that are not only going to entertain kids but also empower them," Varun said in a statement to IANS.

For Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, children get to vote for their favourites. Names like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt have performed at the award gala in previous editions.

As the 49th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is organising a special section for sports films, members from the film fraternity including Akshay Kumar, Chitrangada Singh, Reema Kagti and Rakesh Omprakash Mehra will attend the gala to present their sports-centric films.

Among those selected from the sports section to be screened at the event are "Gold", "Soorma", "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag", "1983", "Mary Kom", "MSD: The Untold Story" and "Mary Kom".

Aiming to celebrate sports and recognise the contribution of Indian sportspersons, the sports section, which is being introduced under the Khelo India campaign, will take place at the Joggers' Park in Altinho.

Apart from this, the festival will showcase 212 films from over 68 countries. Israel will be the country of focus at the gala, where there will be a retrospective section of Ingmar Bergman, marking 100 years of the filmmaker's birth.

Rehaan hurt himself on the set when he was preparing for Diwali special episode, and instead of using the electric lamps, he used clay diyas for more a authentic feel.

But it did not go well with the actor as the lit diya caused him the unexpected injury.

Talking about the incident, Rehaan said in a statement: "As an actor one has to take the risk for a good shot. I insisted my director and the team to use a real diya to get the right kind of a shot."

"I love to perform scenes in the most real manner, by obviously keeping the safety in mind. I did injure myself during this particular scene, but for the shot to look that good, I think a bit of pain was completely worth it."

The actor is currently playing the role of police constable Parv, an antagonist in the show.

After Satyajit Ray, it is acclaimed filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh who redefined the image of Bengali cinema and culture for the modern world -- and the young generation is now following in his footsteps, says writer-director Sangeeta Datta, who has made a docu-feature on the maestro.

Datta has tried to capture Ghosh's transformation from an introverted, soft-spoken student of Jadavpur University who entered the world of an advertising agency as a copywriter, to not only become a multiple National Award-winning filmmaker but also a fashion icon of West Bengal who came out of the closet to celebrate the existence of the third gender.

"I think Ritu laid the path for a new generation for self-expression through cinema in Bengal. Today, when I see the young filmmakers experimenting with new subjects in Bengali cinema that is going global, they really admit the fact that with his cinema, Rituparno actually shaped the Bengali film industry at a time when people stopped going to watch a Bengali film in the theatre," Datta told IANS in an interview here.

"After Satyajit Ray, Ritu really arrived as someone who brought back the intellectual middle-class Bengali audience to the theatre."

Datta's docu-feature "Bird Of Dusk" had its India premiere at the 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, which ended here earlier this month.

Ghosh, whose cinema explored human relationships with a bold depiction of sexuality, died following a cardiac arrest in 2013 when he was just short of 50. He had won 12 national and several international awards during a two-decade journey spanning 19 movies.

Asked about how she treated the life journey of the filmmaker of "Dahan", "Raincoat" and "Chokher Bali" fame, Datta said: "I had seen Ritu from college days when he used to get bullied at the hands of other guys because he was not necessarily masculine and that made him more introverted. He formed his world through writing and reading... his knowledge was his power."

She said she had seen Ritu gradually became a confident person who embraced his creative ideology and sexuality. "I wove the story chronologically with utmost sensibility," she added.

"Bird of Dusk" offers various aspect of Ghosh's personality and equation with his regular collaborators like producers, actors, cinematographers and film editors.

"When I was making the film, actors like Arjun Rampal very happily and willingly shared his story of how Rituparno turned the Bollywood actor into a performer in the film 'The Last Lear'.

"Since I was not a part of the film ‘Shubho Mahurat' which featured Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee Gulzar, I did not know what happened on set. Sharmila di shared how she disliked the fact that Rituparno was trying to be political and playing up her against Rakhee," shared Datta, who made the feature film "Life Goes On" with Sharmila and Soha Ali Khan.

She also worked with Ghosh on films like "Chokher Bali", "Antarmahal: Views of the Inner Chamber" and "Raincoat" among others.

What is the one thing she misses the most about Ghosh?

"Apart from working with him as an associate director, our interest in Tagore's literature, art, music... It brought us together and we became very good friends. I miss our calls, our endless conversation on several topics that I cannot have with anyone so often because he was a really well-read man," Datta said on a nostalgic note.

As she got a bit emotional, Datta said: "I really lost a close friend... Ritu went too fast....that was not an age to die."

Actress Nithya Menen says she will star in a "beautiful film, which has a very unconventional love story",with her "Bangalore Days" co-star Fahadh Faasil.

Nithya had a small but impactful part in the 2014 Malayalam film and now, she is looking forward to reuniting with the National Film Award winner on the big screen.

"I am doing a Malayalam film, which I will be starting in February or March. It's a beautiful film with Fahadh. I am really looking forward to working with Fahadh because for me, working with good actors is such a pleasure," Nithya told IANS.

"It will be a beautiful... very unconventional love story," added the actress, who has more movies in Malayalam and Hindi in the pipeline.

She's also excited about the release of her film "Praana", which was shot in Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada.

"I think those were the most hectic 23 days that I have shot in my life. I do less number of takes because my acting is very spontaneous. But to shoot the same thing over and over again and to learn dialogues in different languages...

"I thought it would have been a little more challenging, but we managed it pretty well. I had to also do a lot of script work because I was the only one who knew all the four languages," she said.

She didn't want the soul of the film to get lost in other languages. So, if she was not on the film's set, she was mostly on the phone with the writer and getting the dialogues right.

"I didn't have a minute's rest while working on the film. We are planning a December release. The film is going to film festivals," said Nithya.

The trailer of "Praana", which has just one character played by her, was unveiled at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year.

Actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh's tough policeman avatar in the teaser of his new Marathi film "Mauli" is being loved.

He says while he would love to show this side of his performance in a Hindi film, there's something else about doing it in his mother tongue.

The action-packed teaser of "Mauli" was unveiled by superstar Shah Rukh Khan on social media earlier this week.

It received a positive response from a majority of the film fraternity, with director Ram Gopal Varma questioning Riteish as to "why you don't show this kind of attitude in Hindi films and reserve it only for the Marathi Manoos?"

Riteish, who earlier featured in Marathi film "Lai Bhaari", responded: "Hahahaha RGV Sir, thank you for your unique, kind words. I wish I got a script like this in Hindi... But more than happy to play this character in Marathi. Mother tongue has its own magic."

Produced by Genelia D'Souza Deshmukh and directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, the film, set to release on December 21, is written by Kshitij Patwardhan.